GOP candidates see hostility in Iranian naval incident

The Republican candidates lashed out at Iran on Thursday over its detention of 10 U.S. sailors, ignoring Pentagon admissions that the sailors had strayed into Iranian waters and suggesting that Tehran committed an act of war.

In the opening moments of Thursday night's debate, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz set aside a question about jobs to make a statement on the Tuesday night incident in the Persian Gulf. Cruz said he had been “horrified to see the sight of 10 American sailors on their knees with their hands on their heads."

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“And I give you my word if I am elected president, no serviceman or servicewoman will be forced to be on their knees and any nation that captures our fighting men and women will feel the full force and fury of the United States of America," Cruz said.

The sailors were detained by Iran for less than 24 hours after what Defense Secretary Ashton Carter called a "mistake" and the result of a navigation error while the Americans were on a routine patrol near an Iranian island in the crowded Persian Gulf.

Donald Trump dedicated his closing remarks to the episode, saying he had watched footage of the Americans' capture, broadcast by Iranian media, with dozens of construction workers, some of whom he said "had tears pouring down their face" as they watched "the humiliation of our young 10 sailors" kneeling with their hands up and with "Iranian wiseguys having guns to their heads."

"It was a terrible sight, a terrible sight," Trump said. "And the only reason we got them back was because we owed them with this stupid deal $150 billion."

Under the terms of the Iran nuclear deal struck in July between the U.S., Iran and five other world powers, the U.S. will unfreeze Iranian assets in return for Iranian modifications to its nuclear program that greatly extend the time it would take Tehran to fashion a bomb. U.S. officials estimate the assets at about $100 billion. Iran has been hurrying to take the steps to implement the agreement and economic sanctions could be lifted and the assets released within days.

Obama officials have argued that a diplomatic relationship forged during months of nuclear talks allowed for the quick release of the American sailors, who said they were well-treated by the Iranians.

Along with Cruz, New Jersey governor Chris Christie spoke as though the incident amounted to an Iranian assault on the U.S.

"Tin pot dictators like the mullahs in Iran are taking our Navy ships," Christie fumed. "If Chris Christie was president they would know better than to do that."

The GOP candidates otherwise broke little new ground on foreign policy, repeating complaints that President Barack Obama failed to enforce a chemical weapons "red line" in Syria and is under-funding the U.S. military. "We cannot even project force," said former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. "Our enemies no longer fear us."

Much of the national security discussion revolved around the questions of refugees and immigration, with several candidates vowing to tighten restrictions on Muslim asylum seekers. "Border security is national security," Cruz declared.

Undaunted, Marco Rubio argued that the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, is actively plotting to exploit immigration loopholes and infiltrate the U.S. "There is a radical jihadist group that is manipulating our immigration system... They're looking to manipulate the visa waiver system," Rubio said.

Rubio also seemed to endorse a return to a policy of torture when he said that terror suspects "are going to get a one way ticket to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and we are going to find out everything they know." Obama banned torture in one of his first acts upon taking office in 2009.